<B>By Deepa BHOOKHUN</B>

The country woke up on a Wednesday, two weeks ago, horrified at the sorry tale of a woman who told the police that she was abducted, drugged, sexually abused and left for dead in a sugar cane field. Public opinion reacted at the savagery of the assault, at the sickness of our society, at the degradation of the social fabric of this country.

Only to learn a few days later that the purported assault may never have taken place anywhere but in the head of Marie Linley Savriacooty. A piece of information that made me personally wonder which scenario was more sick; the one described earlier or the fact that a woman would make up such a sordid story in a desperate attempt to attract some attention. I still do not have an answer to this question.

For the sake of the police inquiry and because, apart from circumstantial evidence and rumours, we do not know which version is true, we shall presume that things did happen the way Mrs Savriacooty said they did. The contrary would be presumptuous. And I have to admit, it is a hard stand to take; Marie Linley?s past is full of similar and curious incidents that point out that something is definitely rotten. But you know the story of the shepherd who always lied about the wolves and the day the wolves actually came, no one heeded his calls for help. So let?s keep an open mind in this affair.

But let?s imagine for one second that the police inquiry shows that Marie Linley Savriacooty made up this story. Let?s imagine that she sat there one day and decided that she wanted to be a victim, that she wanted all the attention that such an affair would breed. And so she concocted this sordid affair in her head. Presumably her husband was not a party to the deceit. So she decides to become a victim in his eyes as well. And then she goes and does those horrible things to herself. Beats me how someone could to that to himself or herself. Beats me what prompts them to do that?

I?ve always wondered what goes on in the head of a person just before he decides to put an end to his life, what it must feel to be so desperate as to think that things will never get any better. Likewise the reasons as to why a woman would subject herself to those acts of violence, sexual violence at that, baffles me.

One thing is for sure though; either way, Marie-Linley Savriacooty is a victim. Either way she needs help. And regardless of the outcome of the police enquiry, the State owes it to her as well as to all of us to treat her accordingly. Sending Mrs Savriacooty to rot in jail-if it ever came to that- will not cure her. Her problem is elsewhere. She does not need to be punished; she needs to be treated. We may have an opportunity in this case to start treating society?s malady rather than its symptoms. Will we rise to the challenge?

What will definitely ensue from this case is that, as from now, any woman who comes forward alleging to have been the victim of rape, will be viewed with suspicion. But that?s another matter. One that our self-serving politicians should give some thought to instead of talking nonsense week in and week out.

I am particularly referring to the weekly press conferences of the two main opposition parties who seem to think that their role is to add insult to injury rather than sit down with the Attorney General Rama Valayden and devise an intelligent way to tackle problems of the sort. To deal with the malady that is gnawing our society.